Thankful for family and privilege to hunt

Ihope everyone was fortunate enough to spend Thanksgiving with their families and had a chance to be in the woods for a moment.

I was lucky enough to hunt Thanksgiving morning and afternoon while enjoying a great lunch with my dad's side of the family for lunch.

Cage had to work a shutdown in a plant out of town, so I was able to have a plate of food for him Thursday night when he made it home.

Cooper had a lot of fun in the woods during the holiday.

I was able to get him a set of warm coveralls on Black Friday to wear to the woods so he didn't have to dress so bulky.

Cooper thinks he is very sharp in his duck brown insulated coveralls. We went to the woods a few times over the weekend.

After watching his daddy shoot hogs for two days, Cooper was a bit spoiled since he witnessed kills on two trips.

After a trip with nothing to show for his patience, he decided he wanted to hunt with someone else.

Saturday afternoon, we celebrated Cage's birthday with us all in the woods with two of our friends.

The boys enjoyed hunting and playing and the deer hunt was followed with a good supper off the grill.

Cooper was happy to be out of school for a whole week, but he said he wished the break was two weeks long.

I told him that Christmas break was just three weeks away, and he would get two weeks off. He knows that Christmas break means his birthday is close.

He knows turning six years old means he gets to go on the Christmas modern gun hunt December 26th-28th, and he gets to go on the youth hunt the first weekend of January.

He told me he hopes Santa Claus brings him a nice buck deer for Christmas so he can hunt it the next day.

I explained to him that Santa doesn't deliver deer for him to shoot.

His response of taking out a reindeer was priceless.

While holding back laughter, I told him if he shoots a reindeer, kids will not get their presents.

After a few minutes of negotiating, he decided that a whitetail buck was better than a reindeer.

I honestly believe that Cooper is more excited about his first chance to shoot a deer than he is about his birthday or Christmas.

I have to say that I am just as excited for him.

His excitement and anticipation is hard to contain.

I can't blame him.

I felt the same was when I was his age.

Pictures? Questions? Comments? Send them to katiem@eldoradonews.com.

Contributed Photos Two harvests for Winters: Landon Winters is pictured with his two harvests. He took this 10-point buck (left) with split eye guards while hunting with his dad, Justin, on November 4th during the youth hunt. He took this 10-point buck (right) while...